Ethiopian, 1

One dish I always order in Ethiopian restaurants is Kitfo. It is usually described as being warmed, raw minced beef, although in practice I have always found it to be cooked through. The beef is marinated with a mix of spices and then warmed (or lightly cooked) in seasoned butter.

I used a mixture of chilli powder, ground cumin and salt for the marinade, in which I tossed the minced beef and left for a few hours.

For the butter, I melted a large chunk of butter over a low heat and added cumin, turmeric, coriander seed, fennel seed, mustard seed, pink peppercorns and cardamom, all ground and decreasing in quantity down the list. I kept the heat very low for about an hour to allow the flavours to infuse, then strained the butter through a sieve.

The minced beef was then placed in the melted butter and gently heated for about five minutes, stirring quite regularly to encourage the beef to break up into pieces.

I served it with feta cheese crumbled on the top, as I have seen it in restaurants.

The end result was pleasing, but surprisingly, considering the amount of spice in the preparation, a little bland. Opinions differed as to what was missing. Tobias thought it needed more cumin and chilli, our friend thought it was just undersalted. I myself thought it lacked a sharpness and would have been tempted toward lemon juice.

I'm not pleased enough with my Kitfo yet to post a full recipe. Next time, I will use more cumin, more salt and also some lemon juice in the marinade and see if this yields a more flavourful result. I would love to serve this at the Thyme Supper Club with Injera, so fingers crossed...